[corrral]

I don't get why these aren't free-for-all. You abandon property on the sidewalk, seems like littering to me at best (something worse if you're doing it as part of some coordinated effort or plan). In most jurisdictions, you lose your claim to trash once it's discarded. So....

[henryfjordan]

The scooters were never abandoned. They had GPS and a whole network of people to service them. At best they were "mislaid". See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost,_mislaid,_and_abandoned_p...

Dumping scooters in the street is much more akin to a public nuisance if you want to get litigious.

[s0rce]

I'd argue its a public good, its an alternate mode of transport that is very useful and reduces the number of car trips and their associated negative externalities. Certainly scooters take up less space than parked cars which seem to have been grandfathered in and getting rid of parking is fiercely opposed.

[dangus]

Bicycles are safer:

https://newatlas.com/urban-transport/study-e-scooters-injury...

Bicycles and even some buses are more environmentally friendly:

https://news.ncsu.edu/2019/08/impact-of-e-scooters/

Almost half of the trips are replacing healthier and safer walking trips:

https://www.itv.com/news/westcountry/2021-07-31/e-scooters-r...

I haven’t even mentioned the rental prices, which are crazy high compared to a public bus ride.

On top of that, scooters left on sidewalks are ugly and invade public space.

I’m fine with people using scooters but they should have to own and take care of them, and if scooter sharing companies are operating they should be required to ensure they are left in proper places or perhaps in designated docks. They shouldn’t be effectively stealing public land for their for-profit service.

[corrral]

> I’m fine with people using scooters but they should have to own and take care of them, and if scooter sharing companies are operating they should be required to ensure they are left in proper places or perhaps in designated docks. They shouldn’t be effectively stealing public land for their for-profit service.

Exactly this. If they'd paid for land to install racks/docks and taken measures to ensure the scooters ended up there, or partnered with local governments to create same (as in municipal bike rental racks) I'd have no problem with it. It's completely bizarre to me that it's fine to leave your crap all over the public sidewalk as long as you're a company with a scheme to make money off it.

[corrral]

How are people to know this? Stickers on them, sure, but anyone can attach a sticker saying anything on whatever they like, so how legitimate is that? Can I just toss all kinds of shit on the sidewalk if I attach a sticker first saying that it's cool and other people shouldn't mess with it? If they do mess with it, is that theft or vandalism? Doesn't seem like it ought to be. Seems more like I ought to have a fine coming my way, regardless of what happens to the junk I left lying around or what kinds of words I put on it first.

I'd not have known WTF these were when they showed up in my city, if not for reading HN. They look like a company intentionally littering all over public spaces.

[ThunderSizzle]

Throwing something on the curb is the same as abandoning it, at least at most cities I've been in. Completely fair game.

Just because it has GPS in it doesn't mean it wasn't abandoned